In My Place
by Anilem Atarih
Summary: The story takes place right after the epilogue of DH, it’s my theory of who is the misterious Ms.Malfoy and why Draco and Hermione weren't together at the end of the book.A/N: There may have some fact 'adaptations' for the times when the book was unclear:
1. Draco Malfoy and his misterious wife

**Disclaimer**: Harry Potter and his world belong to JK Rowling. _I own nothing._ I write for fun. Unfortunatelly no money is being made:)

A/N: I'm a huge Harry Potter fan and I love reading fanfics specially Draco/Hermione, I've read many of them, more than I can actually remember but this will be my first attempt in writing one so forgive me for any mistake you may find. Happy reading. Read&Reaview please:)

Summary: This story takes place right after the epilogue of DH, it's my theory of who is the misterious Ms. Malfoy and why Draco and Hermione didn't get happy ending in the book.

**In My Place**

_By Anilem Atarih_

**CHAPTER ONE: ****Draco Malfoy and his misterious wife**

"_Draco Malfoy was standing there with his wife and son, a dark coat buttoned up to his throat. His hair was receding somewhat, which emphasized his pointed chin. The new boy resembled Draco as much as Albus resembled Harry. Draco caught sight of Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny staring at him, nodded curtly, and turned away again."__**HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS (p.755/756)**_

_Draco Malfoy's point of view__._

"Is that her?" My wife asked. I was lost in my thoughts when my wife brought me back to reality...

"What?" was the only thing I managed to say.

"Is that her?" she calmly repeated.

"Oh! Her?... Yeah... that's her..." I tried to sound casual...

"How are you feeling?" she whispered.

"I'm fine..don't worry..." I lied giving her a faint smile.

"Eighteen years together and you still think I can't see right through your lies... I'll drop it, for now... let's focus on Scorpius, he's waving at us"

We said our goodbyes to our only child, promising to write everyday. Contrary to popular belief Malfoys treated their children as loving as any other family and Scorpius was deeply loved by every single member of his family. The only difference between my son's childhood and my own is the lack of the Dark Arts Air my father imposed...

After the war, things changed, well most of them at least... the Malfoy name was not related to the Dark Arts any longer and hopefully it will never again, if the events from nineteen years ago taught us anything was to never get ourselves so lost as to follow some crazy nut to the point of almost losing everything on the way including ourselves...

Fortunatelly, now we're ok, many people still stare at us everytime we go to public places and today was no exception... but I couldn't care less, I just worry about Scorpius sometimes, but he's a strong boy, he's always dealt with it with maturity...

You see, we never lied to him, he knows about our past, our status in the pureblood society, almost everything, so he understand the different stares we get...some people look at us with envy, after all today we're the richest wizard family in Europe and Asia and one of the richest of the world and we're the perfect image of the pureblood family...

But some look at us with hate, they just can't forget my father's role as a Death Eater, it's sad to have so many people judging you for the actions your father made and was already punished for them...

I feel through their eyes that they think our family was not punished enough, for after the demetors betrayed the Ministry again, it was clear those things could not be trusted so to punish the former Death Eaters they sought for alternative punishments, my father as most death eaters was condemmed to lifetime home imprisionment and forbidden to use magic freely again, they created a bracelet that was enchanted to keep him inside the Manor and controled his magic abilities, he was reduced to the magic level of a child, all he could perform was simple spells, anything more complex the bracelet would restrain him... some thought is was too soft but there's nothing worse to a wizard specially a pureblood one than to lose your magical power, but at least he was at home with his family...

My mother received no punishments for she was the one who eventually helped Potter and I also got no punishments, just a huge fine, in my trial Potter gave a favorable speech in my defence... it was almost surreal, even today I have difficulties believing that he did it, but I guess he did it for my mother... honestly I never had the courage to ask him.. anyway as my father couldn't be in charge of the family anymore I had to take over Malfoy Inc. and all the family responsabilities...

As I said things changed, we got rid of the Dark Arts collection my father had and my mother remodeled the whole Manor, it's very different from when I was a child, but I like it better now, it's... lighter... guess it reflects our spirit, we are nicer people and my parents learned to tolerate those who are not pureblood, Scorpius doesn't have the same prejudices I had, but nothing can be perfect... even thought my parents are more tolerant people, they still believe in all that pureblood crap that almost got us fucked and so when my father was sent to Azkaban for the first time by the end of my 5th year, my mother informed me of their vow...

From the moment I was born I was magically bounded to my wife. It was a very ancient piece of magic, the Unitas Corpus Curse, used by very tradicional pureblood families around the world which was unbreakable, there was nothing I could do about it, it was either reuniting with my wife and become permanently bounded for life or suffering the consequence of not completing the ritual, which meant death: first for those who could be the obstacle and then for both of us. To make sure that there would be no possible way out of our parents' deal, they also took an Unbreakable Vow, which set when and in what conditions the bound would become permanent, in other words, when and how we were supposed to marry.

How could I marry someone I didn't know when I was so desperatly in love with another woman? And to make things more interesting my bride-to-be was also in love with another man... so you can see it was a very difficult moment for us...

I remember it took me a month to start talking to my parents again, one year to digest it all (which was my 6th year, the best – we started dating in secret- and the most terrifying- I was supposed to kill Dumbledore), another year to accept my fate and plan how I would make the love of my life break my heart with no regrets and a whole other to convince myself that I had taken the right decision... but there wasn't really a choice for us.. and so one year after the Battle of Hogwards we got married feeling extremely unhappy and lying to our beloved ones...

The things we had to do in order to protect our beloved ones and ourselves weren't easy... She told hers that she had been using him, that he had been a hobby while she had been waiting for me, her rightful husband, that she always knew she was engaged to another and never had the intention to be with him and he believed... they never spoke again...it broke her heart but it kept him safe... as for me I knew mine would see the truth in my eyes so I had to hurt her, hurt her so badly that she would be the one to break up with me and that's what happened...

"Draco, Draco, darling, are you listening to me?" my wife once again brought me back to reality.

"Sorry honey, I guess my mind was elsewhere, what were you saying?"

"In fact I was asking if we could go now... I feel the effect of the potion is wearing off and I don't know how much longer I can keep the Glamour charm on me..."

"Sure, I'm sorry" and then we left Plataform 9 ¾ and went back to the Manor, I took her to her room and when I was about to leave she whispered:

"Could you stay over? I could use some company..." she smiled a bit.

"Of course, just let me change to more confortable clothes, I'll be back in a sec..."

When I came back my wife was already changed and resting peacefully on her bed, she looked so fragile even with the enchantments "guess they'll wear off now" she said and they did, there was my real wife, pale, weak, barely able to breath, she had been sick for almost a year now, she barely had energy to get out of the Manor, she could only go to the Plataform because of the potion she had drunk which gives her more strength but leaves her weaker and the Glamour Charm was one she used a lot, we still had family appointments, and on these occasions she would use it, make her appearence and excuse herself after an hour or so, nobody but our family knew she was this sick...

"Are you sure you don't want to try that new treatment?" I asked her not for the first time.

"Draco, I think we have already had this conversation..."

"But..."

"No buts... I've been sick for over a year now... so it leaves me just one more... I don't wanna drink some potion which may give me another year, a year in which I'd barely be able to hug my son... no...I'd rather live this one year sick but still able to be myself, to hug my son, to take a walk at our gardens..."

"I understand you... I'd probably make the same choice"

"Besides... not even the healers are sure if this new potion works in my case...anyway... I think it's time to tell Scopius the truth... that I'm not going to get better and that this is probably going to be our last Christmas together..." she said with tears in her eyes...

"Ok" was all I could say.

"Ok... never thought you would agree so fast..."

"You're right... it's better to give him time to digest it all..."

"Thank you"

"Please, you don't have to thank me..."

"I mean, Thank you for everything... I never really thanked you before for what you did for me and for the wonderful husband you've been to me..."

"Honey, really, you don't have to thank me... and why are you talking about what has already been... just because you're sick...it doesn't..."

"No Draco... Let face it, I don't have much time left, so I think it's time for me to start working on my unfinished business... we never really talked about how our lives were before this marriage was forced upon on... all we know about each other's past is that this marriage ruined our chances to marry the ones we really loved... and don't get me wrong... I love you now, but we both know we didn't get married because of love..."

"I know but I don't think this is the time to..."

"And the only think I know about the only girl you ever loved...

"But I love you..."

"Now... as I love you now... but... this love we have is something we built and we work hard to keep it... sometimes it even feels like you are my best friend... but that's it, the love I feel for you is not like the one I felt for Takeshi... and I know you feel the same..."

"Please, Sophie let's not get to this... I really don't think it's worth bringing all this memories back... what good will it bring?"

"It will help me take this feeling out of my heart... Let me talk so that I can clean my soul... I feel like if I don't talk about it, I will not be able to leave this world in peace..."

"Pease, don't talk like this, you're not..."

"But I will be... and soon... I'm not even sure if I will be able to see the new year coming... Just do it for me... I need to get it out and I'm sure you need as well... I could see it right through your eyes today... you couldn't even look at her direction..."

"No, I told you... I'm fine..."

"Please, Draco, let's be honest... you don't have to lie to me... you're not ok and it's ok not to be...at least she doesn't hate you..."

"She doesn't hate me? How would you know?..."

"I caught her looking at you when she thought nobody was looking... pity you were too busy pretending not to care..."

"But..."

"See... we need to talk about it..."

"No we don't, we don't need to open wounds that took so long to heal, you know what happened and I know what you had to do..."

"Open wounds that took so long to heal? Draco, please, they never healed!! They may not hurt now as badly as before but they're not healed!!" Sophie said in that kind of tone that I knew I had pissed her off, so I let her go on "Besides you don't know everything... you don't.. like I don't know everything about your story... what we told each other was a short less painful version... I want to tell you mine so you can tell me yours..."

"Ok, your wish is your command Ms Sophie DeiLux Shizumu Malfoy"

"How many times I've told you not to call me by my full name Mr. Draco Lucius Malfoy?"

"Hundreds? Thousands? It doesn't matter, I love to see the face you do, besides it always distracts you from more serious issues... Seriously now, I never got it why you decided to keep all your family names..."

"Well, we got married because of them, right?" she said calmer now, saying her full name always made her lose her focus "so, I always figured it fit, besides it saves the part in which the newspaper would have to say them anyway..."

"Who would have imagine that our families had decided to bind their fortunes throught us?..."

"And from the moment we were born... you know it still irritates me how we had no choice in this... I remember when my father first told me... I was 6 and was packing my things to leave for school..."

"Six?? You started school with six?"

"See, that's what I told you... we've been together for over 18 years and we don't really know anything about each other's past... I don't want this... I want to die, knowing you, my husband, and knowing that my husband did know me, not just superficially like we have been living, I want to live what's left of my life fully..."

"We can do that..." I said finally giving up to her wish, like I wouldn't eventually anyway "why don't you start?..."

"Well, let me start by the beginning:

As I was saying, my father told me when I was 6, at the time I really didn't pay attention, it only hit me when I was 16 and was telling my mother about the boy of my dreams... Takeshi...

When my father lifted his eyes from the newspaper he was reading and said 'you better enjoy this little romance while you can...do whatever you want with this boy or any other boy you may fancy... just remember to keep yourself pure for your wedding...'

I just couldn't believe it, my father, the most feared wizard in Japan, the master of the oldest Pureblood family in the world telling me to go whoring around, it had to be a joke... it was only when I looked at my mother's face that it finally hit me... I was really going to have an arranged marriage...

I always thought it was a possibility if I didn't get a fiancee that didn't meet my father's standards but... at that moment I realized that I wasn't going to be offered what my parentes managed to get, he could choose my mother, my mother was in love with him... it was so unfair that I don't remember getting angrier than I was that day, I screamed, yelled, and shut myself for the rest of my vacation...

On my last day at home my mother told me 'Sophie darling, I know it's awful, and we are sorry, but when we did it we thought it was for the best, your father and I wouldn't go for anything but the best for you... that's why we did the unbreakable vow to your future husband's family and they shared our view by taking the vow as well, if you persiste, we are all going to die but I know I'll not blame you... We thought that by making this match you would have the perfect marriage and our gradchildren would be both perfectly healthy and wealthy...Your father and I were the fisrt to realize that if we keep marrying our cousins we wouldn't have better children but quite the opposite, squibs have been born both sides of our family, not only in the Shizumu but also in the DeiLux, imagine that? The DeiLux the oldest French Purebloods having squibs in the family? So your father and I got married, both of us from old Pureblood family but from different continents and you and your brother prove that's the future for the Pureblood families... luckily we were in love but we knew it's hard to happen... darling, the Malfoys are the oldest and richest family in England... it's the perfect match, we are equally weathy and with the best quality in blood...

The rest of the story you know... My father explained there was no way out, unless I wanted my family and I to be dead... I hated him then... and... when I went back to my last year at school...I broke Takeshi's heart..."

My wife Ms Sophie DeiLux Shizumu Malfoy, daughter of the Master Shizumu, the most feared and respected wizard in Japan and Ms DeiLux Shizumu, the most important witch in the French society, was crying... I remember seeing her crying twice in 18 years, in our wedding night and when Scorpius was born, both by different reasons, the first time I saw her tears they were bitter, the second time they were of happiness and today...they were of sorrow, longing...

"Draco?" Sophie was looking at me, waiting... her tears were gone...

"I'm sorry, Sophie, what did you say?"

"I said Thank you...you've been a wonderful husband, you helped me live my life without him, you gave me Scorpius who makes my life worth...and when I'm gone..."

"Please Sophie, do you really have to talk like this? Everytime you talk like this, I feel guilty for.."

"Let me finish, please, When I'm gone, I want you to promise me you won't feel guilty about my death, it's not your fault I'm sick, it's mine, you gave me 18 years of a wonderful life with you and 11 with our son... I never thanked you for our wedding night, you could have walked away, after all I wasn't pure then, was I?... You could have claimed that my family hadn't fulfilled their part of the deal and be free... but you covered for me, you completed the ritual..."

"Of course I did, you say I could have walked away? I couldn't! How would I live with myself knowing that my refusal caused the death of you? But... by completing the ritual knowing you were not pure, I gave you your illness..."

"Please Draco, don't do this to yourself, you didn't give me my illness, you gave me life, I gave myself my illness, if I hadn't been so stubborn, if I had followed my head not my heart, I wouldn't have been silly enough to give my purity to Takeshi... I just refused then to have my first time with someone I didn't love... I'm going to die because I didn't respect what the curse demanded 'purity of the maiden' back then I didn't really care if I'd live or die...That's why I thank you Draco Malfoy, you gave me life...Never forget it!... And promise me you won't blame yourself!"

"I..."

"Promise me"

"I promise you"

"Thank you... now it's your turn... your story from the beginning... and I want the details this time, and a better description of her... what's her name? You never told me..."

"Her name?...It's Hermione..."

_**A/N: I hope you liked the chapter, let me know if it's worth giving it a try and writing about Draco's story and Hermione's point of view. Thanks for reading and I'm sorry if you didn't like!**_


	2. Hermione Weasley

BOOK 7

**Disclaimer**: Harry Potter and his world belong to JK Rowling. _I own nothing._ I write for fun. Unfortunatelly no money is being made:)

A/N: Thanks everybody for the reviews.I hope you enjoy this chapter. I added the song in which I've based the title of this story. Read&Reaview please:

**In My Place**

_By Anilem Atarih_

_**In my place, in my place **_

_**Were lines that I couldn't change **_

_**I was lost, oh yeah **_

_**I was lost, I was lost **_

_**Crossed lines I shouldn't have crossed **_

_**I was lost, oh yeah **_

_**Yeah, how long must you wait for him? **_

_**Yeah, how long must you pay for him? **_

_**Yeah, how long must you wait for him? **_

_**I was scared, I was scared **_

_**Tired and underprepared **_

_**But I wait for you **_

_**If you go, if you go **_

_**Leaving me here on my own **_

_**Well I wait for you **_

_**Yeah, how long must you wait for him? **_

_**Yeah, how long must you pay for him? **_

_**Yeah, how long must you wait for him? **_

_**Please, please, please **_

_**Come on and sing to me **_

_**To me, me **_

_**Come on and sing it out, out, out **_

_**Come on and sing it now, now, now **_

_**Come on and sing it **_

_**In my place, in my place **_

_**Were lines that I couldn't change **_

_**I was lost, oh yeah **_

_**Oh yeah**_

_**COLDPLAY- In my Place**_

**CHAPTER ****TWO: ****Hermione Weasley**

"_So that's little Scorpius" said Ron under his breath. "Make sure you beat him in every test, Rosie. Thank God you inherited your mother's brains._

"_Ron, for heaven's sake," said Hermione, half stern, half amused. "Don't try to turn them against each other before they've even started school!"_

"_You're right sorry" said Ron, but unable to help himself, he added "Don't get too friendly with him, though, Rosie. Granddad Weasley would never forgive you if you married a pureblood"_

"_Hey!"_

_**HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS (p.756)**_

_Hermione Weasley__'s point of view._

What's the matter with me? Please Hermione, it's been 19 years... Merlin, I think I'm losing it... focus on Rose, yes Rose, never though I would have a daughter that looked so much like me, not only mentally but also physically, if it wasn't for her Ginny-mirrored hair which is the only Weasley trait on her, one could say she's my little clon... Hugo on the other hand is half me, half Ron, but you can see that his personality is mostly from Ron...

I'm barely paying attention to what people are talking, something about Teddy and Victoire snogging, and Neville... why can't I take my eyes off him? Why? He hurt me, he left a wound in my soul that never healed... he made me break up with him... and this is the part I never understood... He thought I didn't see what he was doing, he deliberately broke my heart, he wanted me to break up our relationship... and he got it... coward... typical Slytherin of him... he manipulated me to be the one who ended it...

I always thought our love would be strong enough, that after the war he would show the world he didn't care anymore about that pureblood nonsense and we would have a happy ending, but no... it ended before it even had a chance to really start...

I remember crying a lot that year, it was as if my heart refused to believe what my head was rationally telling him... everything was a lie... he had never loved me, he had never seen me as his equal...

**I** broke up with him, so why can't I take my eyes off him?... I should hate him, after all he broke my heart, he let me suffer...Stop it!... Stop it now!!... Hermione Jean Granger-Weasley, don't go there! Don't touch this wound! What good will it bring to think about how lost you felt without him? How alone you felt? How you waited for him knowing he wouldn't come back?... knowing he had never really loved you...

Twenty years ago, I was scared, tired and underprepared... I had left Hogwards to help Harry in his quest for the lost Horcruxes and I had to keep a secret from my best friends... definitely that was not an easy year, and it only got worse... the brief moments I sneaked out to see him, usually when I had to get food or it was my turn to keep watch, we only argued... it was obvious that we were falling apart, and I just couldn't understand why... why had he changed so much?... then to help my already weak emotional state Ron left us... It seemed everything was going crazy and I had no control over it... and things just kept going worse... Nagini almost got Harry killed, I accidentally broke his wand and... I broke up with him... our last argument was on the night Harry was unconscious from the encounter with Nagini...

"Mom?" I was brought back to reality by my beautiful daughter.

"Yes Rose?"

"Oh! Never mind!" She said looking nervously at Ron's back who was engaged in some conversation with Ginny about James...

"Darling, you know you can tell me anything..." I said looking in her eyes, I could see that she was worried about something.

"What if I'm not in Griffindor?... What if I get sorted to another house?..." I looked at her half surprised, half amused for I had no idea Ron's words had made such an impact on her and also because I could see Albus was asking Harry almost the same thing.

"Remember our conversation?"

"Yes mom, but dad said..."

"Don't worry about your dad!... you know how he is, he just don't think before speaking... you'll be great in any house at Hogwards... don't feel like you have to be sorted in Griffindor just because all your family was... all houses are good, let the Sorting hat decide it for you..."

"But mom, what if it wants to put me in Slytherin, dad will..."

"Your dad will understand... he might be a little disappointed at first but he will be happy for you no matter what... Slytherin is not a bad House, great people have been sorted there, of course some went really bad but others were great like Professor Snape... Remember when uncle Harry told his story?"

"Yes, but..."

"Rose, darling, any house has its good and bad things and I always taught you about how important it is not to judge a book by its cover... but if you trully feel like Griffindor is where you belong in spite of the hat's recommendation, you can tell it in your mind, it wil take you feelings in consideration and present the pros and cons for you"

"Really?"

"Well that's how it worked with me... it really considered putting me in Ravenclaw, but I felt at the moment Griffindor was better for me so it told me the pros and cons of both houses and I chose Griffindor... so there's nothing to worry about darling"

"Thank you mom"

My little Rose was hugging me when it was time for them to go into the train, Albus asked why people were staring at them and Ron said some joke about it... the train began to move, we waved, said we would write everyday and Harry walked alongside the train watching our kids leave... then we could no longer see the train... and then I caught myself looking at his direction again... why?...it shouldn't be so difficult... nobody would say it was supposed to be easy, but also nobody ever said it would be this hard...

"She's beautiful, isn't she?" Ginny asked me, obviously noticing I had been staring at them.

"What?"

"Malfoy's wife, I suppose that's who you're looking at? Right?" Ginny asked in a casual tone so I felt myself relaxing...

"Yeah... after all they hardly go out to public places... I never had the opportunity to see her so closely..."

"You mean in person... sure we see them a lot on the newspapers and magazines but as you said they hardly go out... I must confess I was also a little curious to meet Ms Malfoy"

"Curious?"

"Curious about what?" Harry asked us, he and Ron approached us

"About them... oh they're gone..." Ginny said pointing to where the Malfoy had been.

"Them? Who?" Ron asked.

"The Malfoys" answered Ginny.

"What about them? Why are you curious about them honey?" Harry asked Ginny, I was relived that I was not involved in this conversation, the last thing I wanted was to talk about them..

"... and Hermione too, right?" Ginny was looking at me like she had asked me something...

"Sorry Ginny, I was thinking about Rose, could you repeat that please?" I lied feeling horrible to have used my daughter as an excuse...

"Don't worry Hermione, when James went I also couldn't stop thinking about him" Harry said to me, what just made me feel even worse...

"yeah, it takes a while for us to get used to their absence, but what I was saying before was that we agreed that Malfoy's wife is very beautiful..."

"Yes, she is... different kind of beautiful though" I answered.

"I couldn't agree more... she's... exotic... beautifully exotic... after all it's not everyday that you see a French-Japanese witch...it's really a nice mixture, her pale face, oriental green eyes and perfectly straight blond hair" Ginny said "I must say I wanted to see her closely and I have to say the pictures on the papers don't make her justice..."

"Well the git had to go for the best right?" Ron said "It was in all over the papers, I think their marriage only lost to our marriages and the Battle of Hogwars as the most read news... frankly I don't know how he managed to convince her to marry him, maybe he confunded her?"

"Oh Please Ron... like Malfoy would need that... don't you remember? The Prophet gave every detail of 'the perfect pureblood union' as they'd put it... it had been convinient for both families, through their marriage they've kept the so called purity of their blood avoiding the side effects these unions were having..." Ginny explained...

"Squibs? That's what you're saying, right?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, and it didn't hurt that it also joined their fortunes, now they are one of the richest families in the world"

"Really? I thought only the males had the right to inherit the forture..." Ron said.

"Well it does depend on the culture, doesn't it?" I finally started taking part in a conversation I didn't really want to "I read in a book once which talked about differences in the wizardry societies around the world that the Japanese purebloods leave their bequest for the eldest child, no matter the gender but it is a common tradition there that he or she would keep half and distribute the other half among his or her siblings and the French distribute money and properties equaly among them, only the titles and the responsabilities are passed exclusively for the eldest boy, so.."

"She's quite rich" Ginny concluded "Fleur told me her mother was the most important witch in the Pureblood society, the DeiLuxs are very powerful there, her mother left her money enough to make her one of the richest witch in Europe and her father I read in the papers was the most respected wizard in Asia, left her one of the biggest fortunes of Asia which she kindly divided with her only brother who was also in charge of the family obligations after she got married and moved to England..."

"I'm surprised of how much you know about her Ginny" Harry said "didn't know she was so interesting..."

"Well, she is, obviously I never agreed with all this purity of blood crap that the purebloods like to brag about, but it's interesting to see how far they can go to try to assure it besides even though they are mistaken about it we have to agree that their family histories are fascinating, only purebloods keep track of their family backgrounds and so its throught their records that we have a history, a past... funny, isn't it?"

And we left the Plataform, when we reached the place where we had parked our cars we said our goodbyes and went home. Ron had promised Hugo to take him out to have an ice cream, I said I couldn't go because I had to review some papers for tomorrow which was true I was the head healer of the Spell Damage departament at St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, so normally I had lots of researches to check, but that wasn't really why I didn't want to go, I needed some time alone... cry again... nineteen years and I still cry about...that was the worst night of my life, part of me died at that moment... I was alone, scared... but I forced myself to bury everything deep inside me... I had to be strong for Harry, so after that night I never let myself think about him, if I didn't, I wouldn't remember him, I wouldn't feel betrayed, used... but I was tired, that was probably why I let myself fancy Ron again, let him love me and learn to love the wonderful man Ron is... I have a beautiful family,I love my husband, my kids, I have a great job, I'm one of the most respected healers in Europe... so why am I crying?... because I need to... and then when no more tears are left, I'll do what I have been doing... don't let myself think about him again because it only brings me sadness...

By the time Ron had come back with Hugo I was ok, at least from the outside, I finished checking the papers and went to bed, promising myself that this was going to be the last time I had cried because of him... but things would go on as they were before and this would help me, after all it took fate 19 years to make us meet each other again, all I had to do now was avoid going to the Plataform again, and this wouldn't be difficult, the hospital always resquest my presence at the most unusual times... it was going to be a real pity, but some more minutes without my daughter were better than be in such emotional distress... Yeah, if I don't see him, I won't remember him and I won't suffer...

_**A/N: I hope you liked this**__** chapter, on the next one I plan on picking from where I left on chapter one, Draco's turn to tell his story. Thanks for reading and once again I'm sorry if you didn't like!**_


	3. St Mungo's Hospital

BOOK 7

**Disclaimer**: Harry Potter and his world belong to JK Rowling. _I own nothing._ I write for fun. Unfortunatelly no money is being made:)

A/N: Thanks everybody for the reviews. Sorry for the late of this... Life got in the way:) I hope you enjoy this chapter. Read&Reaview please:)

**In My Place**

_By Anilem Atarih_

_**Previously in Chapter One:**_

"_Please Draco, don't do this to yourself, you didn't give me my illness, you gave me life, I gave myself my illness, if I hadn't been so stubborn, if I had followed my head not my heart, I wouldn't have been silly enough to give my purity to Takeshi... I just refused then to have my first time with someone I didn't love... I'm going to die because I didn't respect what the curse demanded 'purity of the maiden' back then I didn't really care if I'd live or die...That's why I thank you Draco Malfoy, you gave me life...Never forget it!... And promise me you won't blame yourself!"_

"_I..."_

"_Promise me"_

"_I promise you"_

"_Thank you... now it's your turn... your story from the beginning... and I want the details this time, and a better description of her... what's her name? You never told me..."_

"_Her name?...It's Hermione..."_

**CHAPTER ****THREE: ****St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries**

"Hermione?... It's a very beautiful name..."

"Yeah..." then I got lost in my memories of her..

"Draco?... it's your turn now..."

" It's still hard for me to understand why it's so important to you... it's just too painful to think about what we had and couldn't keep..."

"I have already told you..."

"I know... where should I start?..."

"How about the begining? Why don't you tell me about the first time you met her and then on..." She said with a faint smile.

"Well, it's not nice... I saw her on the train to Hogwarts to my First Year there, she seemed a nice girl but you could clearly see she was muggle born... you know? Her clothes, attitude gave her away... so as imature as an 11-year-old pureblood that I was I told her she didn't belong there, she didn't deserve to be one of us... all that pureblood crap that our parents told us, but she didn't cry qas I had expected her to, instead she looked right into my eyes and told me I was wrong and she'd prove it to me, then she turned and left, just like that..."

"I can't imagine your face..."

"Anyway, she did prove it to me... she beat me in every single test and I hated it..."

"I'll bet... you never liked losing" Sophie said faintly, I could barely make out what she was saying...

"Sophie, are you alright?"

"Yes, don't worry.." she said closing her eyes "go on with your story..."

"I don't think you're fine... I think we should call your brother... he's your private doctor and it'll take 15 minutes for him to get all over here if you..."

"No! I'm ok! It's no need to bother Hiroshi, he's on vacation with his family in Brazil and I'm fine, please go on with your story.."

"Ok" I said still thinking I should call her brother she definitly didn't look good.. "I insulted her, picked on her... I keep teling myself I hated her because she was a mudblood, because she was Potter's friend, the teacher's pet... then I saw her at the Yule Ball in our Fourth Year and I knew I didn't hate her... How could I hate an angel?... that was surely one of the most confusing nights of my life... I felt something when I looked at her and it wasn't hate... and then... Sophie? Sophie?..." my wife if that was possible was paler than ever "Sophie? Are you alright?"

"What?...Oh! I'm sorry Draco... I think you were right... I'm not feeling.." then she passed out so I did the only thing I could do at the moment, I took her to St Mungo's Hospital, I was worried Hiroshi wouldn't make it on time...

_**At St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries**_

I barely could pay attention to what I was doing, I took my wife on my arms and apparated on the Emergency Room, I got the first Healer I saw and told her Sophie had been unconcious for over a minute now, the Healer took her away and I was to fill in some forms and wait.

After a long and anguishing minutes a Healer approached me holding the forms I had filled in.

"Malfoy? Mr. Malfoy?" when I looked up I saw the Weaselette, oh! That's childish, I saw Mrs Potter looking at me as if she had been waiting for an answer...

"yes?" I eyed her carefully, that was not what I needed of all the Healers in this Hospital, She had to be the one to get my wife's case... all I had wanted was for them to make Sophie better enough to wait for her brother so she could be treated at home... You see, Sophie never came to St Mungo, she had been treated by the best healers in the world which includes her brother, but we had successfully avoided English, French and Japanese Healers.. we tried to prevent people from knowing about her illness and so far we had been able to keep it a secret... the only Healer totally aware of her codition is Hiroshi... but now I was afraid that we wouldn't be able to keep it a secret anymore... but what could I possibly do, she fainted, I couldn't wait 15 minutes...

"Mrs Malfoy is stable now, we gave her a potion to make her concious and stronger, but we would like to keep her here a little longer so that we could perform some other charms and spells..."

"No, if she is better I'd like to take her home, I have already owled her private Healer who will be home by any minute now..." I could see that was not the answer she wanted because she took a deep breath and said:

"Unfortunately Malfoy, we don't believe she's strong enough to be moved, besides the Preliminary Charms showed traces of a curse, so we can not reliese her until it's clarified the reason why she has been cursed and..."

"But that's an absurd! Are you saying I cursed my wife and brought her here?"

"No! That's not what I said! I said the hospital policy is to verify all traces of possible curse, after the Hogwarts war is a standard procedure.."

"And because of my past you think I cursed my wife?"

"No! I said that she has traces of a curse and so we have to investigate, that's all!"

"I will not tolerate this! I'll take my wife home so she can get the proper treatment"

"You're unbelievable! You're still the same the arrogant git! She is getting the best treatment..."

"I don't care! I'm taking her home! You don't have her medical background, her private healer has... he knows what is wrong with her... I appreciate that you made her better but I'm taking her home!"

"I'm sorry, but she will stay here, maybe you could send her private Healer here..."

"I want to talk to the Healer in charge, my wife is not staying here, she hates Hospitals, her brother is her Healer, he is probably waiting for us at the manor now..."

"Fine!" Mrs Potter said in a very pissed off tone of voice "I'm taking you to the Head of the Department, she will now how to deal with you!" and then she took me to an office when I looked at the little plate on the door I knew I shouldn't have asked to be here, I should have gone to the ministry and got a permission to take my wife home...

"Here you are Malfoy!" and she knocked on the door before I could say anything.

"Come on in" said a too familiar voice.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you but Mr Malfoy here would like to talk to you about his wife, here is her file" and she left leaving me to face Head Healer Hermione Jane Granger-Weasly.

_**A/N: I hope you liked this**__** chapter, on the next one I plan on Hermione's point of view. Thanks for reading and please review!**_


	4. My apologies

Hello everyone,

First of all, my sincere apologies for not updating. I know there's nothing more frustrating than a story not being frequently updated.

Unfortunately, other things get in the way... I moded out of my old apartament to a bigger one, changed jobs and the biggest factor: I had a beautiful baby girl who demands a lot of my time... so at the moment it's impossible for me to update.

However, I hope to be back to this story and updating regularly next year.  
All I can ask for is your patience. :)

Thank you!

Anilem Atarih 


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